Closing Wright Tech has costs, monetary and in human terms

The implications of the state Department of Education's decision to close J.M. Wright Technical School in Stamford "temporarily" are becoming more clear each day.

The most obvious effect will be Norwalk students suddenly find themselves without a school to attend to pursue a trade. The reasons given by the state are declining enrollment, a decaying infrastructure and teacher retirements.

Are not all three connected and is not the state at fault for allowing the school to suffer from neglect?

Norwalk has always supported the school as an alternative for the students who won't be going to college -- although some do -- to earn a skilled trade.

It is no secret that we will always need carpenters, plumbers, HVAC experts, automotive technicians. Schools such as Wright Tech are the primary source of those skills.

The statement by a state spokesman that "the state has every intention of reopening a new Wright Tech in two years" is disingenuous.

In the meantime, student lives will have been disrupted and teachers will have scattered. Like Humpty-Dumpty, you can't put it back together again.

Although the school is located in Stamford, that city seems more concerned about developing its own charter technical school than boosting Wright Tech.

There will be a price for the city beyond the loss of classroom seats. The only apparent alternative is Abbott Tech in Danbury, which means busing students up the old Route 7. (Too bad we don't have a new Route 7 going all the way to Danbury).

As it is, the city budgeted $132,000 last year to bus local students to Wright Tech. To take them to Danbury will cost $250,000 or more, according to local authorities.

Busing to Bullard Havens Tech in Bridgeport is not an option. Although it is closer, it is at capacity.

We share the fear expressed by interim School Supt. William Papallo that some students when they find out the rigors of commuting to Danbury will just drop out of school, and that's a tragedy.

Did the state ever consider that its own neglect of the school might be a cause of declining enrollment?

As we have said before, if this school was in Hartford, there'd be no thought of closing it.

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